The present invention relates to motor vehicles and more particularly to a wheel hub that couples a wheel to an axle of a motor vehicle.
Conventional wheel hubs typically include a sleeve mounted for rotation around an axle. The sleeve has bearings and lubricant that provide the rotational coupling for the wheel to rotate about the axle, and the sleeve typically also includes an integrally-formed wheel-mounting flange that extends out from the outer surface of the sleeve. The wheel-mounting flange includes bolt holes through which bolts are inserted that mount the vehicle wheel to the wheel-mounting flange.
In conventional wheel hub arrangements, a mounting flange of a brake rotor (or brake drum) also typically include bolt holes for mounting the brake rotor or drum to the sleeve using the same bolts that are used for mounting the wheel to the wheel-mounting flange. In other words, the flange of the brake rotor is coupled to the wheel-mounting flange with the same bolts that are used to mount the wheel to the wheel-mounting flange. With this arrangement, the brake rotor is positioned “inboard” of the wheel-mounting flange, which means that the brake rotor is positioned on a side of the wheel-mounting flange away from the outside of the vehicle, or on the side of the wheel-mounting flange opposite the wheel. Because of this, when access to the brake rotor and braking components is desired, the entire wheel hub (i.e., the sleeve with its integral wheel-mounting flange) must be removed from the vehicle's axle. After the brake rotor or other components of the brake are serviced, the wheel hub must be reinstalled, which requires resetting the bearings and re-lubricating the connection. A wheel hub that allows access to the brake rotor (or brake drum) without requiring removal of the wheel hub from the vehicle's axle, would be welcomed by users of wheel hubs because it would save time and make servicing the rotor or drum easier.
According to the present invention, a wheel hub for a vehicle having an axle and a wheel comprises a sleeve and a wheel-mounting flange. The sleeve is rotatably mounted on the axle and has a sleeve bolting flange radially extending from its outer surface. The wheel-mounting flange removably substantially surrounds the sleeve and has a first set of mounting holes for bolting the wheel-mounting flange to the sleeve bolting flange and a second set of mounting holes for bolting the wheel to the wheel-mounting flange. The second set of mounting holes is radially more distant from the sleeve than the first set of mounting holes.